Travelling abroad if you have suffered a spinal injury can be an overwhelming experience. Even more so if you are finding yourself in the process of planning it for the first time, when everything, from deciding on a destination, to booking flights and accommodation can seem overwhelming.

The WDBS Welsh Open will be held at Redz Snooker Club from 30 June – 2 July 2017 and for the first time will be open to players from ALL eight disability classification groups and will be played using a Six Red format.

As at previous events, the weekend will begin with a Friday open day, at which players with all disabilities are encouraged to attend and try snooker, with free practice and coaching from accredited WPBSA World Snooker coaches available. Prize money will be available at the event subject to sponsorship.

Dom Keogh, 21, from Manchester raised over £2,000 for Parkinson’s UK, when he ran the Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 23 April.

Dom completed the 26.2 mile challenge in 4 hours and 31 minutes, in the month that Parkinson’s UK has launched its new fundraising campaign We Won’t Wait, highlighting the urgent need for new and better treatments for everyone affected by Parkinson’s.

Dom was running for his step-dad who is living with Parkinson’s and in memory of his great uncle who had Parkinson’s..

Dom joined a 235-strong team of runners of all abilities who chose to support the charity.

A daring staff member from a Glasgow care home and her sister have ziplined across the River Clyde in a brave bid to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease.

Geared up in harnesses and helmets, Heather Graham, from Bupa’s Wyndford Locks Care Home, and sister Nicola, were raised 150ft in the air, to the top of Glasgow’s Finneston Crane then glided over the Scottish river.

The Graham sisters were inspired to take on the zipline to fundraise for MND Scotland that supports those living with Motor Neurone Disease - a cause particularly close to their hearts as their father has the condition.

Automatic cars can be a real lifesaver for people with disabilities or injuries, allowing them to enjoy the freedom a vehicle provides, without the need to continuously depress the clutch pedal when changing gear. This can be a particularly important feature if your condition has left you with a weakened leg, but you still need to operate a car regularly.

Caudwell Children, the national charity that provides practical and emotional support to disabled children and their families, is calling on disabled athletes who need specialist sports equipment to contact them for fundraising support.

The charity can part fund equipment for disabled children and young people who are actively competing in sport.

And the charity says that it would welcome applications, for a range of sports equipment, from interested athletes.

Shell has joined forces with not for profit organisation fuelService to help drivers with disabilities receive assistance at the majority of its service stations. That’s because filling-up the car is one of the biggest challenges for the UK’s disabled drivers.

“Disabled drivers have always struggled to get their cars refuelled,” said Niall El-Assaad, fuelService’sfounder. “In the past the options were to use an infrared transmitter, but few service stations supported it, and at those that did, it hardly ever worked. The other option is to beep your horn, flash your lights and wave your blue badge about – which is potentially embarrassing and offers no guarantee of service.”

A modeling and acting company are looking for children and adults with learning or physical disabilities to take part in a professional photo shoot.

Social care professional, Laura Johnson and performing arts teacher, Zoe Proctor, recently established Zebedee Management as they wanted to see better representation of people with disabilities within fashion, media and the arts. They are holding a series of photo shoots around London and Manchester.

Laura said “Zebedee want to see more people with disabilities on television, in magazines, online and in films. We believe that people with many unique characteristics should have the same opportunities as ‘mainstream’ artists and we are working with people within the media and fashion industries to make

A new website has been launched offering practical advice and support to people coping with disabilities and long-term health conditions who wish to remain living independently in their own homes.

Called www.independentforlonger.com, the website signposts individuals and families to information and personal real-life case studies on various Technology Enabled Care Services (TECs) which enable users to maintain their independence, support themselves in their own homes and to manage their own health conditions.

Tynetec, a brand of Legrand Assisted Living & Healthcare, is the company behind the platform which has also received endorsement from renowned TV Doctor Hilary Jones.

It once might have been that mobility scooters were considered to be the reserve of the elderly. In recent years, that’s all changing.

Now, mobility scooters are often picked as the transport option of choice for younger people with mobility difficulties, many of which are in their 50s, 40s, 30s and even 20s.

What’s making mobility scooters popular with younger people?

An increasing number of younger people are choosing to invest in mobility scooters instead of wheelchairs. New technologies mean that scooters can last longer on one battery charge than they might have done previously, and they’re also more fashionable and more practical.

Specialists in the design and installation of sensory environments, gesture controlled software and inclusive learning technology, Sensory Guru has announced the Naidex debut of its new mobile version of Magic Carpet, an app-based interactive projection system that stimulates and engages people of all ages and is accessible through multiple access methods.

Sensory Guru is also showcasing the Magic Carpet app store, which contains thousands of new apps for the product.

New independent research by the University of Birmingham has confirmed the valuable role that activity monitoring technology can play in determining the most appropriate care for those with learning disabilities.

The research, which involved nine local authorities and 33 care providers in England, tested the use of Just Checking activity monitoring equipment to summarise how a person naturally behaves in their home, combined with advice about person-centred care planning.

Just Checking uses small wireless sensors placed around an individual’s home to build an objective picture of their daily living routine, without the use of cameras or microphones. It supports the principle of safeguarding against deprivation of liberty and complies with the Mental Capacity Act.

Care Management Group is leading the way in driving up high quality care, with service users and staff members making individual pledges to achieve desired goals, as part of their commitment to the Driving Up Quality (DUQ) initiative.

The DUQ Code was first launched in 2013, with the support of the government and leading organisations such as Care Management Group (CMG) a leading provider of care for people with learning disabilities. Following the exposure of the abuse at Winterbourne View in 2011, the DUQ was initiated to ensure that care providers are delivering the very best standards of care for people with learning disabilities. Central to this is enabling individuals to lead a meaningful life, which requires focused and personalised support.

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